As shown in FIG. 5, this kind of the operation of connecting the grounding wire to the vehicle body is performed by connecting a grounding terminal 1 to a terminal of a grounding wire w by means of contact bonding, forming a bolt-fixing hole 2a through a vehicle body 2 at a predetermined position thereof, and tightly securing a nut 3 to a rear surface of the vehicle body 2 along the bolt-fixing hole 2a. With a round hole 1b of an annular electrical contact portion 1a in coincidence with the bolt-fixing hole 2a, a bolt 4 is penetrated through the round hole 1b and the bolt-fixing hole 2a and tightened into the nut 3 to fix the grounding terminal 1. Thereafter the grounding terminal 1 is brought into contact with the vehicle body 2 under pressure to connect the grounding terminal 1 to the vehicle body 2.
In the grounding wire connection operation to be performed by using the grounding terminal 1, it is necessary to perform an operation of forming the bolt-fixing hole 2a through the vehicle body 2, an operation of stripping an insulating sheath at the terminal of the grounding wire w, and an operation of crimping the grounding terminal 1 to a core wire exposed portion at the terminal of the grounding wire w. In connecting the grounding wire w to the vehicle body 2, it is necessary to perform an operation of fixing the grounding terminal 1 to the vehicle body 2 with the bolt 4 and the nut 3. Thus the above-described way of connecting the grounding wire w to the vehicle body 2 has a problem that it is necessary to use a large number of parts, and in addition the above-described operation takes much time and labor.
One vehicle has 10 to 30 connection portions on average and in addition has a large number of portions where apparatuses are fixed to the vehicle body with bolts. In some types of vehicles, the sum of the number of these portions to be fixed to the vehicle body with the bolts is nearly 1000. Thus from a viewpoint of work efficiency, there is strong demand for decreasing the number of bolt-tightening operations.
On this problem, the present applicant proposed the grounding wire connection construction which eliminates the need for performing the bolt-tightening operation in an earlier application, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2002-15789 (patent document 1). In detail, as shown in FIG. 6, the male terminal 5 is connected to the terminal of the grounding wire w. The grounding wire connection device 6 having the box part 6a in which the inserted male terminal 5 is locked with the male terminal 5 in contact with the box part 6a and the clip part 6b projected from the outer surface of the box part 6a is formed by integrally molding a highly conductive resin. By inserting the male terminal 5 into the box part 6a and locking it thereto, and inserting the clip part 6b into the locking hole 7a of the vehicle body 7 and locking it thereto, the grounding wire w is connected to the vehicle body 7.
The use of the grounding wire connection device 6 eliminates the need for performing the bolt-tightening operation and in addition the use of bolts and nuts, thus decreasing the number of parts. But the grounding wire connection construction still necessitates the operation of stripping the terminal of the grounding wire w and the terminal-crimping operation to be performed and in addition the locking hole to be formed on the vehicle body. Thus there is room for improvement.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2002-15789